AHOSKIE – Ridgecroft School is finally getting healthy and is playing their best softball of the season.

The Lady Rams went 3-for-3 in games last week, including a pair in the Tarheel Independent Conference.

Tuesday April 17, they topped The Oakwood School at home by a score of 7-4.

Shelby Hoggard took the hill for the Rams and logged a complete game, seven inning victory. Hoggard allowed four earned runs, five walks, and struck out nine batters.

The Rams had 10 total team hits including a double by Reagan King. Sydney Lane, King, and Alana Hull had two hits apiece. Hoggard, Mandy Spence, Grace Vaughan and Skylar Brown each singled for the other safeties.

Ridgecroft moved to 8-4 overall and 7-2 in the conference.

Thursday, April 19, the Lady Rams travelled to Pungo and jumped out to a three–run lead in the first inning thanks to a pair of defensive errors on The Lady Raiders Pungo and a hit by Hoggard that led to a sacrifice fly by Vaughan. Ridgecroft scored two more times in the 2nd due to another pair of defensive errors, a walk to Lane and a hit by Spence.

Ridgecroft added their final run in the sixth with King singling and stealing second and scoring on a hit by Spence in a 6-4 victory.

Spence got the complete game victory tallying 10 strikeouts and allowing six base on balls and six hits.

The win, Ridgecroft’s fourth straight, moved the Rams to a 9-4 mark overall and an 8-2 conference record.

On ‘Senior Day’, Friday April 20 against Northeast Academy, the team celebrated the softball careers of Alana Hull and Grace Vaughan in a pregame ceremony, with a special tribute given to former coach Jon Northcott for his 14 years of dedication to the school’s softball program.

The motivated Rams jumped out to an early lead in the first inning with four runs on four hits and a base on balls. Northeast bounced back in the top of the 4th with three runs on five walks and an error. Ridgecroft countered in the bottom of the inning with six runs on six hits and a walk. The last run of the game came in the fifth with one more run on a pair of hits for the 11-3 win.

The Rams had 14 hits led by King with three, including a double. Lane and Isabella Woodard had two hits apiece with doubles by each. Spence and Brown singled twice, while Vaughn and Hull both singled. But the big shot of the game was a two-run home run over the left field fence by Hoggard.

Spence got the complete game victory. She didn’t allow an earned run on four hits and struck out 17.

Ridgecroft rolls to a 9-2 conference record (10-4 overall) and a #4 NCISAA 1A State ranking according to MaxPreps.